Penn State students will have the opportunity to learn from alumnus Jacob Stephens when he returns to campus this week to share his experiences creating digital special effects for "Avatar," "The Hobbit" trilogy and many other projects for Weta Digital in New Zealand.

Moses Ling, associate professor of architectural engineering, took fifteen Penn State students on a seven-week journey from Beijing to Hong Kong this summer to look at the world overseas and encourage them to think bigger than central Pennsylvania.

Two Penn State architecture students were part of winning teams selected for a New Leaf-Lion Launchpad (NL3) co-working membership for fall 2014, which gives them access to office space and the opportunity to connect with other entrepreneurs at the State College office of New Leaf Initiative.

Thanks to the support of former students of longtime Department of Architecture head Raniero Corbelletti (1968–88), current Penn State Architecture students will be awarded funds to offset their college expenses.

The Raneiro Corbelletti Memorial Student Awards Fund was established by George H. Miller (’73 B.S. Arch) and his wife, Anne Tichich, in memory of Corbelletti, with additional support from Lou Astorino (’69 B.S. Arch). Corbelletti had a significant influence on many Penn State Architecture students during his tenure at the University, during which time he also served as interim dean of the College of Arts and Architecture.

Penn State Executive Programs, part of the Smeal College of Business, has been approved as an American Institute of Architects (AIA)/Continuing Education System Approved Provider and will deliver a new program—Business Acumen for Architects—this spring.

Penn State architecture alumnus and acclaimed photographer Gary Bernstein will present a free public lecture, “A Light on Life: The Art of Photography,” at noon Friday, Dec. 6, in the Palmer Lipcon Auditorium, Palmer Museum of Art. His clients have ranged from celebrities such as Jay Leno and Elizabeth Taylor, to Fortune 500 companies, including Revlon, American Express, Cartier and Ford. Bernstein’s visit is sponsored by the Penn State School of Visual Arts and is the culmination of an online workshop series with photography students, conducted in November.

The Sustainability Institute is collaborating with Penn State Public Media on their upcoming production of a national documentary. "Water Blues, Green Solutions" shows how cities from Philadelphia to San Antonio to the Bronx are using natural systems to clean, absorb and help manage water.

"Mid Century Modern Architecture in State College" is on display in the exhibit case at the entrance to Pattee Library, first floor on Penn State's University Park campus, through fall semester 2012. The display introduces the online collection of houses and commercial buildings designed by A. William Hajjar, a member of the architecture faculty at the Penn State in the 1950s and 1960s.

Penn State's Department of Architectural Engineering has won an award for teaching building information model (BIM) technology. The department will receive the Academic Program/Curriculum Development Award for its interdisciplinary collaborative BIM studio at the American Institute of Architects' (AIA) national convention later this month.

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but when it comes to designing a specialized building that truly meets the needs of end users, it can take more than a two-dimensional image to get it right. One option is to create a life-size interactive virtual prototype. Graduate student Sonali Kumar is working on it, and has already developed a 3D walk-through model of the new Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital.